Welcome to the Veteran’s Day edition of the Friday Smorgasbord. We have a few “school” related tidbits to share along with a great overview of the mysterious depths of the oceans. Enjoy!
谈论同伴压力
Schooling fish are hypnotic and many have researched the how and why behind this phenomenon. Now researchers have found most fish have a bias on which way they turn to evade predators. What this mean is the coordinated movement of fish is based on a tendency for fish to turn right more often than left or the other way around. The reasoning sounds pretty solid, having an automatic side bias may allow fish under attack to bypass the neural processes that precede the decision to escape left or right. This millisecond saved by deciding right or left, can be the difference between life and death.
Fish + Students = More Learning
Project BioEYES is a program that brings live fish into K-12 classrooms to teach the fundamentals of biology. The team found it not only helps students learn, but improves their attitudes about science. The study of nearly 20,000 K-12 students, who raised zebrafish from embryos over the course of a week, found that kids at all grade levels showed significant learning gains. They also responded more positively to statements such as “I know what it’s like to be a scientist.” The results, to be published by the journal PLOS Biology, suggest that an immersive experience with a living creature can be a particularly successful strategy to engage young people in science, technology, engineering and math.
The Ocean is Deep — Really, Really Deep
海洋是一个深厚而可怕的世界，完全摆脱了我们的大部分生活。但是，我们真的了解它到底有多深吗？我们大多数人都无法理解我们的海洋有多深。该视频是对水的深度以及在表面下方发生的事情的重要探索，讨论了那里的一些奇怪的生活以及其他关于海洋的怪异和奇怪的事情。
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Why do birds eat the plastic floating in the ocean? It is all in the smell says scientists. There is a report in the November 9 issue of Science Advances that shows plastics actually give off a chemical that some species of seabird often use to locate food.
